Using artificial intelligence to forecast the weather is getting so good – and so cheap – that meteorological services are starting to retire the expensive physics-based systems they have relied on. That’s a potentially big problem – and not just for weather forecasting.

Models built by Google DeepMind, the European Centre for Medium-...Read more

The government agency responsible for handling natural disasters is something of a disaster itself. The good news is that its prospects are marginally better today than they seemed just a few months ago. The bad news is that those prospects would still mean a federal response and preparedness body that struggles to respond to and prepare for ...Read more

Last week, Grammy-winning singer and songwriter Noah Kahan revealed that in 2025, while on a trip to Joshua Tree, he was diagnosed with obsessive compulsive disorder at age 28. This debilitating condition affects an estimated 10 million people in the U.S. and 240 million globally, causing unwanted intrusive thoughts and repetitive behaviors. ...Read more

Imagine you are sick with a serious medical condition. How would you feel if someone constantly told you to buy their product because it would cure you, but this “cure” is actually worse than other treatments, and the price tag is enormous?

This is the reality of prescription drug advertising. Whether on television or online, drug companies...Read more

In last week’s mayoral debate, candidate Spencer Pratt said “super meth” was driving homelessness in Los Angeles.

After several years reporting and writing a book on this topic, I can say that Los Angeles, indeed the United States, doesn’t necessarily have a “super meth” problem.

Meth is meth. Like aspirin is aspirin. What matters ...Read more

Gov. Ron DeSantis was trying to spin the news that he might have to close Alligator Alcatraz, his fetid, jerry-built concentration camp in the Everglades.

“If we shut the lights out on it tomorrow,” he said, “we will be able to say it served its purpose.”

It’s fair to ask just what that was.

It has cost Florida at least $608 million...Read more

Out in the high desert city of Barstow stand three Del Tacos that bill themselves as better than their corporate cousins.

They're the last ones owned and operated by Ed Hackbarth, the founder of the Mexican fast food chain. Two of them feature the word "Original" under their marquees, even though that's historically inaccurate — Hackbarth ...Read more

As a progressive economist, I wrote a paper in 2021 with a generally conservative colleague, Kevin Hassett, who now directs the National Economic Council in the Trump White House. We agreed then on the basic arithmetic of the American retirement crisis. We still do. That’s why people like him and people like me can all say: Trump’s executive...Read more

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s new diaper giveaway program is all wet. It is the latest example of Newsom addressing a costly California problem with a half-measure while claiming victory.

“This is what affordability looks like,” Newsom said on Friday in announcing a first-of-its-kind program in the nation. “It’s not a slogan. It’s a box. It�...Read more

The Republican Party began this midterm election cycle as the heavy favorite to retain the Senate majority. That was still the case just 10 weeks ago, on the eve of the Iran war. Today, the prospect of the chamber’s control changing hands can’t be dismissed.

That arc would suggest the war is the problem. But it’s not that simple.

Voters ...Read more

The U.S. Constitution is not an a la carte menu. States can’t pick and choose the amendments and clauses they’ll abide by and those they won’t.

But this is Massachusetts, and our Legislature is trying to do an end run.

Lawmakers are advancing House and Senate versions of the Protect Act (S. 3072) (H. 5158), which would prohibit ICE ...Read more

For more than four decades, I have navigated life managing a chronic disease. This experience comes with countless appointments, trying new medicines and learning to be my own advocate in a health system that can feel overwhelming for patients.

Along the way, I have discovered that staying informed isn’t just helpful. It’s survival. Over ...Read more

In an ideal world, this week’s resignation of Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Marty Makary would signal the end of a troubling period at the agency — one where the job of overseeing a sizable chunk of the U.S. economy had steadily devolved into dysfunction and chaos.

Yet while Makary’s exit is welcome, it’s hard to imagine an ...Read more

Distraught that the Virginia Supreme Court invalidated a statewide referendum that would have enabled them to gerrymander their way to a 10-to-1 advantage in the state’s congressional delegation in November, up from the current 6-to-5 split, some Democrats are reportedly considering a novel response: firing the whole court.

They shouldn’t. ...Read more

“Tax the Rich” is a catchy, intuitive and politically potent slogan. In a period of rapid wealth creation alongside rising costs and constrained opportunity, it speaks to a real and widely felt imbalance. Whether one sees that divide as a moral failure or a market outcome, it demands attention.

The catchphrase’s simplicity, though, ...Read more

The 2024 Democratic National Convention in Chicago was a roaring success and you didn’t have to be a partisan to admire its logistical prowess.

We recall marveling at how rapidly, and seamlessly, the convention planners switched gears from touting the accomplishments of President Joseph R. Biden to those of Vice President Kamala Harris, even ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS -- College students might imagine many nightmare scenarios during finals week.

A damaged laptop entombs an important essay. The least useful member of a group project accidentally deletes the shared Google document. A burrito consumed on the eve of a crucial presentation fulfills an untimely revenge.

But what if these horrors weren...Read more

Everyone in the United States deserves time to care for themselves and their loved ones, whether to see a baby’s first smile or hold the hand of a parent who takes their last. Recently, Virginia became one of a growing number of U.S. jurisdictions enacting statewide paid leave programs— forward-looking states that have taken matters into ...Read more

In February 2025, the richest man in modern history raised a chainsaw over his head to wild applause while on stage at the Conservative Political Action Conference. The image of Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk donning a “Dark MAGA” hat, sunglasses indoors and a thick gold chain while wielding the bright red tool handed to him by Argentine...Read more

If you ask the average person to name one of today’s dictators, Russia’s Vladimir Putin would likely be the first to come to mind. The former career intelligence operative and mayor of St. Petersburg has ruled Russia’s political system since 1999, when a pickled President Boris Yeltsin called it quits and handed power over to Putin on an ...Read more